Our first meeting of Madilyn, Kailyn's sweet little girl!

We always have to fit in a visit to the Fishwife in Pacific Grove
and the weather was perfect!


Christmas vacation in California - a little different scenery than Florida!

Christmas Blessings - Family!

Eric and Stacey spent Christmas Eve with his family in Turlock so the traditional PJ's had to be opened earlier.

Porker the tree and Kristy seeing what Santa brought!

The cats always sniff out their gift, fresh catnip!

A jacket for snow camp!

This navigation system is meant to prevent potential arguments since Eric and Stacey have been known to have disagreements on directions!

WII - Yipee!

IPods aren't just for teenagers - obviously!

Christmas Dinner without Grandma - down with arthritis :(

Merry Christmas to Aladdin and the other animals!

Visiting Grandma

My special gift - a mess kit like Grandpa's from the war

Holiday Happenings

After cutting back on my piano students in the Fall, I had a very small Christmas recital. It was still fun to hear how well this young group progressed. Kristy's quadruplets that she nannies are part of the group!

Our annual volunteer appreciation dinner was held at the Embassy Suites in Monterey. John and Morag got to join in the festivities while they were visiting from Scotland.

Gilroy Gardens is a beautiful place to visit when the flowers are in full bloom but in the winter, the lights and 'snow' and Christmas music get you ready for the season!

Kristy has a new friend, Jordan, wearing a very ugly vest for a special song he sang in church! They met at the college Bible study and he leads worship for the Junior and High school kids which she helps with as well. He plays the bass which gave him points with Mark! Since Eric is allergic to our cats, he quickly bonded to Skuttle Bun, which didn't cause sneezing!

December Doings!

Our church puts on a community wide live Christmas story called Streets of Bethlehem.

Kristy and her friends came on a night she wasn't working. Here she is with her Bible study leader, Pat Moore.

Mark was one of the three kings. I worked in the kitchen where we served dinner to the actors and production crew. We have attended this for years but it was much more exciting to be in the midst of the activity!

Part of the production had live animals and a petting zoo. This little bunny was in need of a home when it was over. It was the runt and I'm a sucker for animals that need a home sooo.....meet Skuttle Bun!

The bunny lived with us until it got big enough to go to
the ranch. The cats didn't know what to think of him!

Grammy's bed is one of Beezy's favorite places to sleep!

"Keep it down out there - I'm trying to sleep!"

Winter Wonderland!

As we began our annual trek to go cut down our Christmas tree, we found a calf had escaped from our neighbors' field. So the three of us herded it back as the others watched and seemed to be laughing! You know those California cows - always into mischief!

We found a very fat tree at a farm in Prunedale and named it Porker when we had to trim it a lot to fit it in the family room! Kristy is looking forward to the mistletoe!
Every year, a local ice company provides 'snow' for the kids to enjoy at the ranch.
We made a little fire for s'mores, served cocoa and 'sleigh rides' between snowball fights!

Florida in the Fall!

Kristy, Mark and I found some cheap tickets to fly to Florida.
This was our timeshare in Orlando.

Stacey and Eric made the two hour drive from Gainesville.
We spent a very fun day at Disneyworld!

We happened to be there on the opening night of their
Christmas Party.

The park was totally decorated, free hot cocoa, no lines for the rides and SNOW!

They had a Christmas parade and incredible fireworks!

We enjoyed the 80 degree weather!

We pulled off an early Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel and invited
friends from Orlando to join us.

Visiting Sienna at her new home in Florida.
I got to stay on and help Stacey in her second
grade class. I wish we all lived closer!

October

My childhood friend, Ellen, came for a visit from Washington. We always have plenty of memories to talk about when we get the chance to get together.

After living in this house almost nineteen years, we finally updated our bedroom and remodeled the bathroom.

This is now one of my favorite places!

Washington DC in the Fall is beautiful! I took a group of high school students to see the sights, including Williamsburg and Monticello. This is Sunnie, who also works with the horses at the ranch.

The daughter of my friend that works with me got married in Carmel with beautiful views of the Monterey Bay.

Ruth and I helped with the flowers.